Austin Murder Walk: 1885 Serial Killer True Crime Tour

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/9

Duration1h 45m

GroupUp to 25

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Eight women, one year, one killer never caught—the Austin story nobody teaches in school

You walk 2 miles through downtown Austin's historic districts—6th Street, the Driskill Hotel, and the Speakeasy Tavern—while your guide explains the 1885 serial murders that terrorized the city and remain unsolved. The tour takes 1 hour 45 minutes, includes a drink stop at the Driskill, and moves at a leisurely pace with short rests. You leave knowing the crime scenes, the victims, and why the case still haunts the city.

1h 45m

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Austin's true crime history

Tour Driskill Hotel lobby
View Driskill Hotel portrait
Walk historic 6th Street district
See old 6th Street photos
Visit Speakeasy Tavern interior
Learn about suspect at Speakeasy
Optional drink at Speakeasy bar

The Experience

In 1885, someone murdered eight women across Austin using an ax. Nobody knows who. The case went cold, the killer vanished, and the city moved on—but the streets remember. This walking tour takes you through the exact locations where it happened: 6th Street as it looked back then, the Driskill Hotel built that same year, the Speakeasy Tavern where one suspect may have worked. Your guide walks you through the evidence, the theories, the dead ends. It's not a ghost story. It's worse—it's real, unsolved, and the person who did it might have been someone the victims knew.

The tour runs 1 hour 45 minutes and covers about 2 miles through downtown Austin's historic districts—6th Street, Guy Town, the Warehouse District. The pace is slow enough that you get short rests along the way, and there's a drink stop at the Driskill (you pay for your own). Your guide is trained in true crime research and knows the details most people don't: which women lived where, which theories hold up, which suspects had access. The Driskill stop itself depends on the hotel's hours that night, but even if the lobby isn't open, you'll see the building and hear how it connects to the story. The tour was voted Best Nightlife Activity by the Austin Chronicle in 2022, which tells you something about the crowd—people who want their history dark and their facts straight.

This Austin murder walk isn't for everyone. It's not a party tour. It's not a ghost hunt. It's a true crime investigation that happens to take place on the streets where it actually occurred, and your guide treats it that way. You'll hear names, dates, addresses, and the competing theories about who the "Midnight Assassin" was. Some people think they know. Most people think the case will never close. Either way, you'll understand why 1885 still matters in Austin.

What’s included

Your tour includes a professional guide trained in true crime research, walking access to historic crime scenes on 6th Street and in the Warehouse District, a stop at the Driskill Hotel (lobby access subject to hotel hours), entry to the Speakeasy Tavern at 412 Congress Avenue, and a drink stop at the Driskill.
Drinks are not included in the price.
The pace is leisurely with short rests built in along the 2-mile route.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Walking Tours of Austin

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to understand a real unsolved case and see the streets where it happened, guided by someone who knows the evidence—not a dramatized ghost story, but the actual 1885 murders that changed Austin.